The point i'd like to make is that as things were, 6th and humiliation was about as good as it would ever have got plodding on down the road we were.
I, like Pearson, am a lot happier about the future of the club now than at the end of last year.

I'm happier than I was at the end of last season but not as happy as I thought I would be now.

I am more hopeful than I was a few weeks ago. Some of the recent performances (excepting Bradford away) suggest we may be moving in the right direction. The proof will be how we start next year.

Being better than this season isn't much of an accolade. And the point being discussed isn't about how unquestionably bad this season has been, but rather some of the reasons behind that.

I'm not sure I agree, although I understand your PoV. For me, last season promised much but delivered little aside from the financial boost from appearing at Wembley. There may have been some progress but it was pretty minimal.


I think personnel problems have been the heart of our troubles for the thick end of a decade, and we may finally be making a real effort to get to grips with successive years of poor recruitment and retention. That's not to deny that other issues have contributed - Radford has clearly made mistakes and has an awful lot to prove next season.

If you look at how we've ended up in 11th - the games we've lost where we should have won - the difference in performance of the squad is not as great as it appears from the bare numbers. I'm not convinced that Gentle would have done a whole lot better TBH.

I'm sure there are many reasons behind it. The number of average players being paid too much and preventing us from strengthening is only one of them and IMO not the main one.

In a salary capped sport it's simply not possible to tie up average players on big money for long periods and hope to progress. It's a big deal in my opinion.

I pretty much agree. For comparison though, this year promised less and delivered even worse, though.



Again, I agree. I feel a little uncomfortable with some of the methods we've possibly used, though.



And once agree, I agree (although with the close losses vs. close wins, there has to be a little bit more credit attributed to Gentle for a bit more mental toughness last year, IMO). What I'm disagreeing with is how much Pearson has criticised the previous regime whilst defending the current way of things, and almost using the previous setup to pass the buck, when so far there hasn't been a whole lot of difference. In a way I understand it, as I'd always expect a good MD to stand up for his staff if he feels they deserve it, and I can understand him possibly harbouring some resentment if he does feel certain people have taken him for a ride. I'm just not ready to get fully on board with it on only one (non-neutral) party's say-so. If the new setup was better than the last, IMO we should have seen some issues fixed this year that haven't been, and not just have it suggested that it's because the squad's not good enough because of the last guy and it'll be sorted with better recruitment.

Dykes had a disappointing year in England featuring only 17 times for Hull missing the Challenge Cup final in a season wrecked by injury.Dykes was instrumental for the black and whites when he was on the pitch winning every man of the match award in the Challenge Cup run to the final

There is every possibility that 2008 Pryce and Sneyd will be just what we have been missing, that, and a replacement for Ogre and we have a much better chance next season.

I'm not sure what method you're using for weighting the various factors, but I'd put lack of squad quality quite high up the list of why any team struggles TBH. And the weaknesses in our squad were pretty clear last season, let alone this.

Absolutely. Dykes pretty much got us to Wembley on one leg - who knows what we could have achieved if we'd had the fully fit version.

What we're being told is that issues [ihave[/i been fixed but they're largely off-field issues that won't have an immediate impact on performances. Necessary groundwork for improvement, if you will. Guess we'll find out how true that is next season...

The point I was trying to make with that was about on-field issues, though. Things like our PTB speed, our passing accuracy and speed, our attacking structure/organisation, our lack of option/dummy runners. Defensive line speed was another, but that has improved a lot towards the back end of the season, so I will openly acknowledge that Radford does seem to be addressing that now, for which he deserves credit. All of these things will most likely improve with better players, but I personally think that we could and should have seen some improvement in at least some of these areas even with the existing players if the coach is supposed to be better and the players more responsive to him (which is what we have been led to believe).

I completely agree. When you are limited in quality, focussing on executing these basics well should be essential. Not much in evidence. The support play does my nut, especially with two props like Watts and Feka who regularly bend the line and look to promote the ball.

The thing is that these shortcomings have persisted through various changes in coaching personnel. Does anyone actually believe that ANY coach tells his players to not support the ball carrier, play the ball slowly, and not bother with defensive line speed? If you remember, even Gentle referred to us having players that 'couldn't be coached'.

Also, what we were told about the players being more responsive to the coach was right at the start when Radford was appointed. More recently the mood music has changed. In fact it's pretty clear from things that both Pearson and Radford have said that they've found the squad far less responsive to change than they thought.

It's never only the players or only the coach. Radford has shortcomings that are plain to see, and I for one never wanted him appointed in the first place. But I have no difficulty in believing that the majority of the issue is with the playing staff as I had concerns about them before Gentle got the push. What AP has come out with since only confirms suspicions that I already had.